It felt good to hear him say it.
We didn’t discuss what would happen when we reached land. We didn’t attempt to plan. There was no point. It would have to be a play-it-by-ear situation. When we climbed out of the sea, the sky was deep orange. Sunset wasn’t far off. I held Pontus as he melted back into the mortal body he’d chosen for the land and pressed my lips to Dillon’s as he emerged.
“It’s going to be okay.” I repeated his words back to him and took his hand.
Together we headed up the beach toward the cliff.
I’d come too far to be taken out by some poncy Wardens who thought they knew what was best. I’d fought too hard to give up now.
If the Wardens wanted me dead, they’d have a hell of a fight on their hands.
17
I stepped through the patio doors into the kitchen and froze in surprise.
“Quinn!” Orina rushed toward me and gathered me into a hug.
Nyx joined in, wrapping her arms around us both. The shock melted and I hugged them back, tears stinging the back of my eyes and nose.
“You guys…I’m so fucking glad you guys are here. When did you get here?”
“Five minutes ago,” Nyx said. “Tate was about to caffeinate us.”
We broke apart, and my gaze flew to Tate, standing by the kitchen door, coffee mug in hand, gaze sweeping over me searchingly.
I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. “I’m okay.”
Tate hugged me back with his free arm, resting his chin on the top of my head. “You passed the test.”
I tensed. How to tell him?
“It didn’t happen,” Dillon said from behind me. “They wouldn’t let her test.”
Tate pulled back to look down at me, then over my head at Dillon. “Why?”
“The taint,” Dillon said. His gaze flicked to Orina and Nyx warily.
Of course, the whole Atlantis existing thing had to be kept on the downlow, it had to remain a myth, and only those we could trust could know it was real. He’d told Tate because Tate was closest to me, and the Faoladh because they were mated to me. We were a unit.
“Orina and Nyx are my oldest friends. We have no secrets.”
Dillon nodded. “Good. That makes things easier. To put it simply, if Quinn and I cement our bond, then she’ll have access to ancient Atlantean power.”
Nyx leaned in toward Orina. “Did he just say Atlantean?”
I smiled at her. “Yeah, that’s a thing. I’ll fill you in later.”
“The consul responsible for the ceremony won’t allow that while the taint lives,” Dillon continued. “They can’t risk opening that potential doorway.”
Tate set his mug on the island. “Shit. Shit, shit, shit.”
Orina grabbed mugs and poured coffee. “Everyone sit. Immortality may be off the table, but there is a way to take down the Wardens.”
We gathered around the island, claiming coffee mugs and adding sugar and milk to taste.
My gaze flicked up to meet Tate’s. “Where are the guys?”
“Jax and Emmit were at the town boundary,” Nyx said.
“Bryce went for a walk,” Tate added.
I ached to see them. To hold them. In time. All in time.
I took a seat between Tate and Dillon, and my girlfriends sat opposite us. They exchanged glances and Orina nodded.
“I spoke to a contact of mine,” Nyx began. “Black market info dealer. She can find out pretty much anything. I asked her how to kill the Wardens. She called me back about fifteen minutes before we hit town.”
“And?” Tate prompted.
“Wardens aren’t pure Mageri. The word on the dark web is that Wardens are the results of experimentation on onyx mages.”
“What?” I sat forward. “How?”
“Percy, my contact, believes that Wormwood is a recruitment ground for all kinds of nasty shit and that Wardens are a product of that.”
“No.” Tate shook his head. “Lorenzo would have said something.”
“Lorenzo is on the council, right?” Orina asked.
“Yes.”
“Yeah, well, the council doesn’t know shit,” Nyx said. “This is above their paygrade, way over their heads. It’s a covert government initiative, and the Mageri council is told whatever they need to hear, whatever sounds righteous and good. Not like they’ll be diving into the dark web anytime soon, right? Nah, they believe what they’re told by the upper tiers.”
“Like the Wardens being a gift from the Dagda…” an unfamiliar male voice said.
My head whipped to the patio doors, where a familiar figure I’d only seen once stood.
“Lorenzo.” Tate pushed back his chair.
Lorenzo’s dark, silver-streaked hair was disheveled, and the silver rings around his pale gray irises were bright. He looked younger than I recalled, maybe mid to late thirties, a man in his prime, even though there was no doubt in my mind that he was older.
“I got here as soon as I could,” Lorenzo said. “I had to get rid of my phone. It probably has a tracker in it.”
“What happened?” Tate asked.
“I saw my brother.” A look of pain crossed Lorenzo’s face. “When they took us to wake the Wardens, I saw him. Oh, they’ve done things to him, altered him, but I’d recognize my brother anywhere.”
“Your brother is a Warden?” Nyx asked.
“He was an onyx mage. They took him away years ago and now…” His jaw tensed. “Your contact’s information is correct. The Wardens are altered onyx mages, not a gift from the Dagda like the council thinks. We were meant to be the second line of defense, the final line. Our kind were strong enough once, but interbreeding with humans has rendered the Mageri too weak to fight the taint. And so, they’ve taken to experimenting on the anomalies of our race—the onyx mages, creatures they can’t control but desperately want to. The council has no clue. They honestly believe these Wardens are ancient. They believe all the blood sacrifice shit. They believe what the Inceptum tell them.”
“But you saw your brother, so you know different,” Orina said.
“As soon as I realized, I left. I came straight here, because there is only one way to stop an onyx mage.” He shrugged the backpack off his shoulder and pulled out a silver shackle. “With these. The shackles the Mageri guards use to subdue onyx mages. I managed to grab six. There are five Wardens.”
“Then what?” Nyx asks. “We lock them up? Hold them hostage indefinitely? Percy also told me these things are programmed. Mission objective is set into their heads. If Quinn is their mark, then they won’t stop until she’s dead.”
“We have to kill them,” Orina said.
“No.” Lorenzo shook his head.
“I know you want to protect your brother,” Tate said. “But he isn’t who he was any longer.”
“It’s not about him,” Lorenzo said.
“Then what?”
“This is about you. There is only one way to kill an onyx mage, and subsequently a Warden.”
“With another onyx mage,” Nyx finished for him.